I was a little frustrated moving into Chapel View, but my experience after the first week or so definitely made up for the chaos of the move. It sucks that their leases begin August 15. I wanted to move in earlier, and when they wouldn't allow it, I was stuck at my parents for a couple weeks. And the day before we moved in, I got a call saying we had water damage from busted pipes. So moving in was a hassle -- there were a dozen things wrong or damaged, and the repair people had left a lot of dirt and mess.

HOWEVER, the management was EXCELLENT when it came to solving these problems. I went in with a list of complaints, and the manager was extremely nice and polite to me. He immediately contacted maintenance and housekeeping: the apartment was cleaned the next day, and every single problem was fixed within 2 days. I didn't have a single other maintenance or housekeeping problem for the rest of the year.

It's a quiet complex, which is great for my roommate and me. I've never had any noise complaints. There's plenty of parking -- I hosted a few dinner parties and all my guests had spaces to park. It's generally a safe area. It does bother me that my apartment faces woods and the entrance is somewhat hidden from view, but that's specific just to my apartment. And even with that concern, I've never felt unsafe here. Plus, the courtesy officer lives in the next building, and the regular presence of a police car keeps things quiet. The pool, gym, and tennis courts are excellent. It's also really cool that if you want, you can go next door to Chapel Ridge and use their facilities as well.

The rent here is a little steep, though it does include utilities (electricity, water, sewage, basic cable, and internet. It's great to just pay rent to the office and not have to worry about bills. It was annoying though that in the middle of winter, even though rent includes utilities, we were paying extra for our electricity because the amount of heat we were using was pushing us over our limit. But when that started to add up every month, I spoke to the management about it, and they told me that if it continued to be a problem, to let him know and he would take care of it. Overall though, I think the extra money is worth it -- the apartment is huge, really nice, and includes new appliances (including washer and dryer!).

UNC students are always telling me that I live too far away from campus, but I don't think the commute is bad at all. It's a 5 minute drive or 15-20 minute bus ride. It's not that it's far away, it's just that it's relatively further from campus than most other complexes. But the nice thing about the distance is that being the farthest away of all the major complexes, you always get a seat on the bus. It's not uncommon for us to drive right past the bus stops that are closer to campus because the buses are too full.

It's rare to find a place that has everything together. Even when there are problems, they fix them immediately. And it's even more rare to find management who are not only competent, but also genuinely nice people. The general manager greeted me by name within the first month, even though I came into the office only once a month or so. The only reason I'm moving out is to live closer to Raleigh (I just graduated and got a new job). I even considered staying here and keeping up the commute, but decided gas would be too much. So I'm sad to leave. This is truly the best living experience I've had in Chapel Hill.

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